"I'm the Kind of Person Who Gets Told 'Never heard of 'em'" - The Human Appeal of Voice Actor Kazuya Nakai, Seen Through Kinji Hakari in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 "Culling Game Arc Part 1"

——Not at all! Rather, would you say you value maintaining a normal temperature, so to speak, to avoid getting too heated about things on a daily basis?

Nakai: I do think that learning about the interesting aspects of various things is something very necessary for actors. However, I tend to view everything with a truly even, unbiased perspective, thinking "this must be interesting, and so must that" (in a somewhat detached way), so I'm not the type to become passionate about things.

——Does that mean you can approach things flatly without ranking them?

Nakai: I do think I'm that type, but there are parts that make me anxious. When I feel myself getting absorbed in something, a perspective that asks "Is this really a good thing?" always emerges within me... In the end, what's important is living, so in order to think "Alright! I can live another day" with certainty, I think the way I've lived my life up until now has been to always have a brake, a sense of margin within myself.

——I think having mental margin is very important for living.

Nakai: Well, I don't know! I don't know. If you let Hakari say it (in his first conversation with Itadori), in response to the words "There might be people who want to live as peacefully as possible...?" he says "Never heard of 'em" (lol).

Everyone: (lol)

Nakai: I'm the kind of person who gets told "Never heard of 'em."

——That's also a very interesting contrast.

The interview provided glimpses of the contrast between Hakari's and Nakai's personalities, but toward the end of the interview, an exchange emerged that touched on this continuation.

——I felt it's amazing that you maintain a neutral stance as someone who performs on the public stage as an actor.

Nakai: It has its pros and cons, but the voice actors who were active when I aspired to become a voice actor were just barely allowed to be that way, I'd say. Rather than being artists, they were more like engineers.

——An attitude of supporting works from behind the scenes.

Nakai: That type, yes. But it's not that they had no desire for self-expression... I feel like voice actors were positioned at that delicate balance.

——There was an era when it was rare for voice actors appearing in classic anime to show their faces on TV special programs, wasn't there?

Nakai: Yes, yes, exactly. I also feel more suited to putting what I've created on stage and watching from the wings thinking "It's being well-received!" rather than going out (on the public stage) myself.

Through the very tricky role of Hakari, hasn't a glimpse of Nakai's sincere side been revealed? We hope you'll confirm how he portrayed Hakari, a character with a different personality type from his own, in the currently airing Jujutsu Kaisen "Culling Game Arc Part 1."

Interview and Text / kato
(C)Gege Akutami/Shueisha

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